Jen Darr's discussions

Wasting money is bad for the bottom line

Started Mar. 27, 2009

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Jen Darr added the blog post 'How PowerPoint Induces Stupidity and Turns Us Into Bores'Mar 8

Jen Darr added 2 new blog posts. View Jen Darr's blog postsMar 1

Jen Darr added 2 new blog posts. View Jen Darr's blog postsFeb 24

Jen Darr added 2 new blog posts. View Jen Darr's blog postsFeb 9

Jen Darr added 2 new blog posts. View Jen Darr's blog postsFeb 4

Jen Darr added the blog post 'Help Desk Resolutions'Dec. 30, 2009

Jen Darr added the blog post 'What We’re Reading: The French Can Teach Us a Thing or Deux Edition'Dec. 28, 2009

Jen Darr added the blog post 'Eating Down the Enterprise'Dec. 23, 2009

Profile Information

Title: Senior Productivity Analyst

Organization Name: PC Helps LLC

Jen Darr's Blog

How PowerPoint Induces Stupidity and Turns Us Into Bores

The Obama Administration today announced that it has appointed Edward Tufte to the US Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. Tufte, a Yale professor and author who is probably best known as a PowerPoint hater, will serve on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, which will track and explain to the masses just what is being done with the $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds. This is good news for the obvious reasons – because he believes in transparency and accountability – but also because h… Continue

Posted on March 8th, 2010 at 3:56pm —

This Week in Comments: Office 2007 with a Side of Vitriol

Way back in April 2009, I posted a piece on CIO.com titled “Office 2007 Doesn't Really Suck; It's Just Misunderstood.” Little did I know it would create such a fuss. Over the past 11 months, the piece has received a smattering of comments, many of which are tinged with vitriol. Office 2007 doesn’t just suck, according to CIO’s readers; it’s reviled, despised, detested, loathed. Her… Continue

Posted on March 1st, 2010 at 4:05pm —

Madness! Mayhem! Microsoft Upgrades!

Although most tech publications are reporting on Microsoft Office 2010, the reality is that a significant number of U.S. companies have yet to finish the Office 2007 upgrades they purchased before the recession hit. According to a leading industry source, about 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT infrastructures are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. That’s a whole lot of wasted investment. Then there are companies who waited for that whole Vista debacle to blow over. They kep… Continue

Posted on March 1st, 2010 at 4:03pm —

What We’re Reading: “You Get What You Pay For” Edition

The Dutch, who know a thing or two about frugality, have a saying, “Goedkoop is duurkoop.” The English translation: “Buying cheap is buying expensive.” And nowhere is that adage more fitting than in outsourcing. University of Tennessee researcher Kate Vitasek offers an in-depth look at how shortsighted cost-cutting and nine other behaviors can hurt companies in her new book, “… Continue

Posted on March 1st, 2010 at 4:01pm —

Efficiency Redux

Matt LeBlanc (not the actor) lines up his toiletries in the order in which he uses them. I’d say he takes “doing more with less” a little to the extreme, but that’s his job as an efficiency expert. LeBlanc was the subject of a piece last week on NPR’s Planet Money program, and his profession is a particularly timely subject in the current economic climate where "more with less” is the mantra and efficiency and productivity are the only goals. (Listen to reporter David Kestenbaum’s… Continue